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Ride-hailing firms, including Bolt and Uber are working on a joint system that will see errant drivers suspended or locked out of all the apps in the push to improve passenger safety.
The common system, in which they will partner with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), will help them deal with drivers who engage in unprofessional behaviour, like sexual harassment or overcharging customers, and then escape punishment by switching to other apps.
Linda Ndung’u, general manager for Bolt operations in Kenya, said in an interview, that NTSA, which regulates the ride-hailing industry, may also use such information to cancel or suspend licences of errant drivers.
“One of the things that NTSA is working towards is to build some kind of a platform where we can share such data so that we all get to know errant drivers. That means NTSA can use such information to cancel their licence and also help all apps not to onboard such people,” she said.
“We are having this conversation with NTSA, our competitors, and drivers. This is one of the positive things we are working on as an industry because the reality is that when an incident happens, because of just one person, they spoil the entire industry,” Ms Ndung’u said.
The development comes at a time when the entrant of new ride-hailing app companies including Bolt, Uber, Faras, Little Cab, Yego, and Maramoja, has given drivers the option to register on multiple apps in search of more rides. This is because these apps enjoy different popularity in different locations, with customers also installing different apps to chase for affordability.
However, the presence of multiple apps has meant that a driver who commits an offence on one app and is suspended or banned can easily switch to another app within the same day, making it difficult for the firms to punish errant behaviour.
“We see those unfortunate instances where errant drivers start with one app and when they are suspended or switched off, they go to another. And because we don’t have a common way to share this kind of information across apps or even with our regulator, then we find such instances happening,” said Ms Ndung’u.
She said that even before the shared system becomes a reality, NTSA has asked the firms to start sharing the list of the drivers they have blocked.
“Currently, we are submitting this, with clear reasons for suspending or locking them out,” she said.
But even as the ride-hailing firms take aim at the errant drivers, driver safety has also become a concern, with several cases of drivers being injured or killed by people posing as customers.
This has prompted firms like Bolt to take several initiatives, including introducing women-only rides and allowing drivers on this option to cancel any ride they deem unsafe without their ratings in the app declining.
Some companies are also now mapping areas with high insecurity cases, based on incidents reported by their drivers over time, and making this visible to the riders.
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